Are brand power and signature still releated?

Tao Okamoto - Emporio Armani SS12

The Damier Canvas pattern has evolved from being a signature to being a part of Vuitton’s DNA. Although some may argue that there is a saturation of what was first considered to be a hyper exclusive signature, Vuitton continues to improve its brand image, despite moving away from the traditional notion that the rarer a luxury brand is, the more desirable it will become. Do CMOs at some of the world’s leading brands still consider exclusivity as a key component of their expansion strategies?  How does a brand like LV, which can be considered to be ‘saturated’ in the sense that it is available everywhere, remain being the most valuable brand in terms of its brand equity? Does niche targeting still work? A couple of years ago you wouldn’t talk about product positioning without mentioning niche targeting. One would feel that the 2008 financial crisis was partly responsible for this shift in mind set. I’ll explain. 

Interbrand - Lux Brand Equity 2002-2011

Brand equity is a brand’s value in monetary terms. Defining how much a brand’s equity is requires a lot of research which takes into account both quantitative and qualitative aspects of the brand’s environment. Interbrand is one company that has been able to capture brand equity accurately. Interbrand gives a detailed method of what it takes into consideration when calculating brand equity, to mention a few; authenticity, relevance, consistency, presence, clarity, and responsiveness among others. When you look at the chart of brand equity by luxury industry, you’ll see that since 2004, Vuitton’s growth in brand equity took off in an exponential manner. The other brands on this list are the ones that wanted to remain exclusive, ‘unsaturated’, under segmented, or to be known as simply ‘signature brands’. I for one am questioning the niche targeting strategy. I understand that it’s better to be known for one thing and to excel at it, but we live in a fast paced world! What business school graduates call the ‘learning curve’ is becoming more vertically straightened than ever; anybody can execute the exact same ‘signature’, and to make it worse, at an even lower cost price. 

Interbrand - Top Lux Brand Equity 2011

Niche targeting is dead! If you want to survive then evolve, adjust, learn continuously. Consumers are always curious, but consumers have more options now. Make your presence felt by occupying more than one product category. The influx of goods from low cost manufacturing destinations makes it harder for signature brands to survive. Instead, exclusivity must turn into personalization. Niche brands are always caught trying to satisfy their customers, forgetting that their customers’ purchasing decision making changes all the time. As an illustration, every brand at the moment is playing the environmentally friendly card. It’s time to rethink niche strategies because less exclusivity does not mean saturation. There are control mechanisms that a brand can apply.

Kimiko Yoshida: a Zen Baroque Monochromic affair

Seductive minimalism in photography is uncommon, but Kimiko Yoshida has managed to achieve it through her work. She “fled” her native Japan to come to France because of what she calls the “mortifying servitude and humiliating fate of Japanese women”, and this is reflected through the disappearing women in her Self Portraits. The use of monochrome adds to the disappearing woman who is there but not there, so she is a woman in hiding. Hiding from what? She says in a statement that these Self Portraits are a “representation” herself, and not a “reflection” of herself. I had a conversation about one’s identity with a friend of mine; I said identity is one’s religion, culture, and beliefs. Kimiko Yoshida states that her ’quest for identity’ has led her to realize that she is not everything she says she is. So the woman in hiding is hiding from who she is because she is not what she says she is. 

Kimiko Yoshida applies a ‘flat’ method to her lighting, which is common in most Japanese photography and cinematography. The lack of shadows in her photographic work creates the lack of desire, a very minimalistic, Zen-like approach. Perhaps this is why she says: “To show doesn’t mean giving us everything to see, to look means seeing that something escapes the gaze”. Another interesting aspect of her work is in the idea of the Brides. Behind these Brides is her face, in other words, a Japanese woman behind what is perceived to us as a Kenyan woman’s identity. These images leave me shocked and inspired at the same time. They also give me hope; hope that maybe one day we can look past what has already been presented to us as being us.